Green Revolution and Punjab’s Cropping Pattern

The Green Revolution changed Punjab from a relatively diversified farming system into one dominated by the rice-wheat rotation. Beginning in the mid-1960s, high-yielding varieties, assured irrigation, chemical inputs, mechanisation and supportive procurement made wheat and later paddy more profitable and less risky than many competing crops.

Emergence of the rice-wheat cycle

The initial breakthrough was strongest in wheat, which became the principal rabi crop. Paddy subsequently expanded as the leading kharif crop, creating a stable rice-wheat sequence on the same fields.

• Short-duration high-yielding varieties and controlled irrigation enabled timely cultivation of two crops within a year, raising cropping intensity.
• Rice and wheat increasingly competed with maize, pulses, oilseeds and other locally adapted crops, while cotton remained important in parts of south-western Punjab.

Forces that reinforced specialization

The new pattern resulted from the interaction of technology, infrastructure and state policy rather than seed technology alone.

• Canal irrigation and rapidly expanding tubewell irrigation reduced dependence on rainfall and permitted intensive paddy cultivation.
• The combination of Minimum Support Prices, public procurement and established market infrastructure provided relatively reliable returns for rice and wheat.
• Fertiliser use, farm machinery, rural credit and extension services supported large-scale adoption of the new crop package.

Long-term implications

Punjab became a major supplier of foodgrains to the central pool, but repeated cultivation of the same two crops created ecological and economic rigidities.

• Water-intensive paddy cultivation contributed to serious groundwater depletion, particularly where extraction exceeded recharge.
• Continuous rice-wheat cultivation encouraged soil nutrient imbalance and reduced crop diversity.
• The short interval between paddy harvesting and wheat sowing, combined with mechanised harvesting, contributed to crop-residue management difficulties.
• Diversification remains difficult because procurement, marketing and processing systems continue to favour rice and wheat.